Kratom is becoming more popular with each passing day. Advocates of kratom say that it is a cure-all for those who suffer from anxiety and depression, some scientists say it can be used to help those who are addicted to opioids, and others believe that the drug is simply dangerous.
Kratom itself is a tropical tree found in Southeast Asia. For hundreds of years, kratom has been used to relieve pain. Users can eat the plant raw, but it is common for the drug to be crushed into a powder and used as a tea.
At low doses the substance acts as a stimulant and at larger doses, it acts as a sedative. As a medicine, Kratom is used for:
- Anxiety
- Cough
- Depression
- Diabetes
- Diarrhea
- High blood pressure
- Pain
- Enhanced sexual performance
While Kratom may sound like a cure-all, using it can create repercussions. The plant does have addictive qualities, as chronic users will exhibit signs of dependency and withdrawal:
- Negative mood changes
- Nervousness
- Anger
- Hot Flashes
- Fever
- Tension
- Diarrhea
- muscle pain
- Twitches
- Trouble sleeping
- Decreased appetite
- Anxiety.
A report was released in 2008 of a patient who self-medicated with kratom when he abruptly stopped injecting himself with hydromorphone. For three and half years, the individual would drink kratom four times a day to relieve his chronic pain.
The drowsiness effect of opioids did not occur with the use of kratom but the patient wanted to enhance his alertness even further with the use of modafinil (a nootropic used to help those with narcolepsy). The patient experienced a five-minute long tonic-colonic seizure due to the mix of the two drugs.
He had no history of seizures or head trauma.
The patient now refuses to take kratom and reported that there were feelings of withdrawal similar to that of opioids, but it was not nearly as intense.
While kratom has been used for hundreds of years the effects of the drug are recently being studied for healing methods.